GREEN SHEET

In the end, the 1998 Illinois statewide races were decided by three fundamentals: money, organization and campaign strategy.

* U.S. Senate. Democrat Carol Moseley-Braun did not lose to Republican Peter Fitzgerald on Nov. 3. Rather, she lost her seat this past spring and summer. Sen. Moseley-Braun's late-October surge was due to her reconnecting with her Chicago base of African-Americans, women and loyal Democrats. Unfortunately for her, she ran out of time to expand this push outside of Cook County.

A better-organized campaign would have secured this base earlier; would have prevented Mr. Fitzgerald from dictating the rhythm of the campaign with his slick and often superficial TV ads, and would have had better answers to his character attacks -- especially those concerning her controversial trips to Nigeria.

Finally, Ms. Moseley-Braun's loss should convince one and all that Chicago is now a junior partner in statewide elections. Her massive Chicago margins were no match for Mr. Fitzgerald's combined margins from Downstate and the collar counties.

Illinois history reveals that congressmen running statewide for the first time have difficulties expanding their vote appeal to new areas of the state. Given more money, Mr. Poshard could have introduced himself to suburban voters as an intelligent, articulate public servant. Instead, Mr. Ryan pulverized him with early paid media -- especially on the subject of guns.

Finally, Mr. Poshard had the added campaign burden of having to garner the loyalties of core Democratic constituencies -- particularly the party's liberal wing. Many liberals firmly believe in political diversity and unity only when one of their own is the Democratic candidate. Mr. Poshard paid a heavy price trying to win them back to his banner.

In other statewide races:

* Attorney general. Republican Jim Ryan's gigantic re-election majority was never in doubt. In fact, defeated Democratic candidate Miriam Santos may find that her legal problems stemming from alleged fund-raising improprieties in her long-shot race against Mr. Ryan will make the city treasurer vulnerable to a serious re-election challenge in February.

* Secretary of state. Democrat Jesse White outcampaigned Republican Al Salvi. Once again, as in his unsuccessful 1996 U.S. Senate race against Richard Durbin, Mr. Salvi was his own worst political enemy. It is inconceivable why he would criticize his own ticketmate, George Ryan, during the gubernatorial candidate's late-October campaign crisis surrounding a federal probe into payoffs at state commercial driver's license facilities.

* Comptroller. Young Dan Hynes won by keeping his cool against an earnest but uneven opponent, Chris Lauzen. Mr. Hynes must now make a name for himself as a solid administrator while he avoids being rushed into political battles not connected with his office.

* Treasurer. Incumbent Republican Judy Baar Topinka defeated Democrat Dan McLaughlin. But her political future rests not only with her finally settling the never-ending "Hotels Illinois" issue (the state-financed hotels in Collinsville and Springfield that Ms. Topinka unsuccessfully tried to unload at steep discounts), but also becoming more accepted and appreciated by party players in suburban Cook and the collar counties.

Paul M. Green is director of the Institute for Public Policy and Administration at Governors State University.